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Changes In Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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“Living fire begets cold, impotent ash” (Achebe 153). Okonkwo has demonstrated a great changed throughout Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. His reactions to the white missionaries reflect on his stern and tough character they will lead to his demise. Okonkwo once was a strong man but his distracted state of mind slowly deteriorated the character he once was. In the Things Fall Apart, a conflict between cultures takes place, with the main character Okonkwo's village being overrun by white Christian missionaries whom are seeking to bring change throughout the tribe and convert the Ibo people. Many people become fond of the new religion's authenticity over time, but Okonkwo is a single-minded warrior at heart, and his stubbornness to …show more content…

However, the Ibo people who live in Umuofia still have a very strong sense of culture. The people of Umuofia go to the Oracle for advice and having “egwugwu” (people dressed up as ancestral spirits) conducting trials. Okonkwo is very comfortable in this domain, and is highly praised among his fellow people for his strength in wrestling and he always has plentiful yam harvests. Okonkwo is currently happy with his current state, his life is good- but that is doomed to …show more content…

Okonkwo was there when he first experienced the white Christian missionaries. At first the people didn’t know how to react and they took it as a joke. They allowed the foreigners to build churches schools, hospital, seek converts, and even put a new government in place! In Mbanta they gave cursed land to the missionaries thinking that they would fail but soon the Christians would thrive. These goals that the Christians were sent out to fulfill soon become successful, the people of Umuofia don’t know what to believe anymore. Some of the Ibo people buy into the new religion and convert, while others find it abhorrent and rebel against. No one supports the idea of being against Christianity more than Okonkwo, who thinks that the men are all turning into women, that the people are weak and need to alienate the new beliefs and that they need to stand up for what they believe in just like him. Okonkwo was reflecting that he sees the clan “breaking up and falling apart” (Achebe 183). His strong, gritty nature comes out clearly in this struggle, as he fights to keep his previous way of life even when all his peers are giving into the wild idea of the white man’s

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